Raptors guard on Wright track for more playing time this year
Delon Wright had himself a game in the season opener Thursday night, but to hear his teammates and coaches tell it, we still haven’t seen the full Delon just yet.
At 25, Wright is further along than some of the other young pups on the roster, but with four full years in college, he’s a little more game ready than others who have followed the one year in college and done route. But Wright, like any other player trying to establish himself at the next level, still needs to experience things at NBA speed and with the level of physicality the game is played at.
He got some of that last year in a season cut short by injury. But with Cory Joseph no longer on the roster, this season could prove to be a busy one for Wright.
He’s entering only his third year in the league and this season represents a great opportunity in which he and fellow point guard Fred VanVleet are being thrown more into the mix.
Through the pre-season and in Thursday’s opener, they ran coach Dwane Casey’s second unit to rave reviews.
Casey said at Friday’s practice the five-man second unit of Wright, VanVleet, C.J. Miles, OG Anunoby and Jakob Poeltl that basically decided the opener with a dominant start to the second quarter may not be a full-time fixture, with the team planning to give Miles more minutes with the starting cast.
Wright’s role should remain rather steady regardless of the makeup of that second unit, said Casey. Miles, in a very short time, has become a big fan of the secondary players.
“Him (Wright) and Freddy, they hound those guards and they make us go,” Miles said. “No matter how many threes I make or how many dunks (Poeltl) or (Anunoby) get, those two guys out front make that second unit what we are. They bring that energy and grit and toughness that we all feed off. They are amazing. They get us in the offence, they both get downhill. They both pass the ball extremely well.
“Delon, you almost have to encourage him to be more aggressive. I try to remind him that what they do is what makes everything else work. It’s what makes OG get those backdoor cuts. It’s what makes Jak get those offensive rebounds and rolls down the lane and myself getting threes on the backside. It’s because of what they do.”
Wright didn’t hear as much of that encouragement from the vets in his first two seasons because he was either injured or playing very limited minutes. Now, though, rather than just having big brother Dorell’s voice in his head pushing him to be more aggressive, he’s got guys like Miles or even Kyle Lowry doing so when he sees some time on the floor with the Raptors’ starting point guard.
“Now that I’m on the floor with him, he (Lowry) shows me the opportunities that are created when being aggressive and how it helps the team. He sees that and wants me to be aggressive,” Wright said.
One thing that’s becoming clear is Wright is no longer feeling a sense of awe or intimidation by anything he comes across on an NBA court.
During the summer and once again in pre-season, he had a physical matchup with point guard Patrick Beverley of the Los Angeles Clippers.
Wright describes it as Beverley trying to play the role of intimidator. He had some limited success doing that in Hawaii when the two teams squared off in the pre-season, but he tried it earlier during scrimmages over the summer in Los Angeles to much less success.
“It didn’t work too well for him,” Wright said, smiling at the memory.
Wright gets another chance to show his wares Saturday when the Raptors host the Philadelphia 76ers.